


All The Pain You Didn't See

by panicked_bi_kid



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: ALL THE ANGST, Blood, Gen, One Shot, angst angst and more angst, i'm not even sorry, mention of shadow weaver, okay maybe a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 00:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16902576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicked_bi_kid/pseuds/panicked_bi_kid
Summary: Adora is strong. Stronger than Catra ever knew.





	All The Pain You Didn't See

**Author's Note:**

> This was painful to write, not gonna lie.

The sounds of the battle rage in the distance, not that Catra or Adora are paying attention, more focused on each other.

"Did you even stop to think what would happen to me after you left? What Shadow-Weaver would do?" Catra hisses, her claws slashing through the air in a deadly arc towards Adora's, no, She-Ra's face. She-Ra just barely dodges, almost losing an eye. Catra was exhausted and She-Ra was at least two feet taller than her but she wasn't scared. "Did you even care?"

She-Ra moves faster than Catra knew she could and in the blink of an eye, Catra's slammed up against the wall, her shirt clenched in the princess's hands. There's a slight tremble in her shoulders, as if with one carefully placed shot, she would come crumbling down. Catra's claws digging into her back doesn't bother her in the slightest, almost as if she can't feel them. Or if she can, she welcomes the pain.

Catra tenses, hating the feeling of being completely trapped, every instinct in her body screaming at her to do something, anything, to get out but she can’t. She stares up into She-Ra’s eyes and it’s easier to be cruel when Adora’s _like that._  But it’s suddenly so much harder to separate the two when she sees her childhood friend glaring down at her, Adora’s eyes shining through the armor and glamour.

“Of course I cared.” Venom drips from She-Ra’s voice. Or maybe it’s Adora talking. “Why did you think I tried to get you to leave the Horde?” She-Ra drops her and the sword, the armor melting away, leaving Adora, unarmored and human again. Catra hates how her heart pangs just a little at how weak Adora looks. A shell of the girl she was in the Horde. “Besides, even if I did try to go back, what would they do to me?”

Always with the dramatics this one. Fury boils in Catra’s gut, made her want to lash out, to punch, kick, claw and scratch at Adora until she begged for mercy. She lets out a guttural scream of pure rage and launches forward, harshly swiping her claws across Adora’s face and shoving her to the ground. Adora lets her, blood pouring from the four distinct lines now across her face, one of them slicing through her left eye. She lays there for a moment before slowly getting up again. Of course she got up again. She always does.

“Since when did they punish you for anything _princess._ ” Catra snarls, spitting the last word out bitterly.

Adora, the real Adora, the same little girl who took her under her wing when they were little kids, looks her dead in the eyes, well, as best she can with blood pouring from one eye. And the only thing Catra can see is pure, raw, unadulterated pain.

She knows Adora is desperately trying to hide it so no one could see, so Catra doesn't think she's weak. And Catra can almost feel a punch to her gut.

Adora was always the golden girl. So strong, constantly praised, always uplifted and _untouchable_. Adora used to be her hero. And deep down, a part of her believed the lie Shadow-Weaver fed both of them.

“Just because you didn’t see it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.” Adora’s voice comes out so small and so bitter and _so broken_ , laced with everything Catra didn’t think Adora could be. And suddenly seeing her down and bleeding isn’t a victory. 

Adora wipes the blood off her face and Catra watches as a single tear escapes from the eye that still works, making its way down Adora’s face.

Catra blinks away her own tears and suddenly Adora’s gone. The sword lays there on the ground, it's normally pulsing light a little dimmer. Catra stares at it for a moment before turning and going back to the rendezvous point. The sword isn’t what she wants. It never was.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my other story "Is the Fight Still Worth It?", updates are sporadic and usually somewhat weekly. Thanks for reading!


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